It’s March, so that means the Los Angeles Dodgers must be off somewhere playing baseball. Arizona? Florida? Puerto Rico? The Caribbean? No. Taiwan? Of course. That’s where Joe Torre and crew are spending the week. It may seem like a distraction from the routines of the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues and probably doesn’t thrill the businesses that thrive on legions of fans heading to the new Dodgers facility in Arizona, but for the Dodgers the trip is a rite of passage that is time honored and keeps their brand growing around the world at a time when baseball, despite its raging success on the professional level globally, needs to keep opening new doors and engaging a new level of fan who is migrating into the United States these days.

In short, it may be viewed as a disruption, but it is very, very smart business for the brand. The idea of the Dodgers trotting the globe is not a new one. While many casual fans think of the Yankees (rightfully so) as one of sports preeminent brands, it is really the Dodgers who have set the pace for not just opening new markets for the business of baseball, but for continuing to cultivate the routes that they and others have opened.

In their days in Brooklyn, we know about Branch Rickey’s work to identify and break the color barrier in sport with Jackie Robinson, but his teams also made regular trips into Cuba and the Caribbean and eventually Japan, to bring the international language of baseball and America’s Game to new legions of fans. Recently the team has made trips to an event wider swath of emerging and established baseball territories, from China and Mexico to Korea and Taiwan, to build baseball diplomacy and help grow the sport.

Their work in the Latino community and in developing young talent and fans is amazing, and Mr. Dodger himself, Tommy Lasorda, has spent countless hours spreading the good news and the sport to emerging baseball countries like Italy and Spain (where he also led Team USA to a surprising Gold Medal in the Barcelona Olympics). Now is it a disruption to take these trips before the long, drawn out and competitive season begins for the team and the brand? Yes. Do most teams, for fear of injury or exhaustion, chose to not go the international route? Sure. However, the Dodgers continue to always be one of the first ones to the table when the chance to grow globally comes up. It may not be a short term benefit for those wearing the uniform today, but it is a long term pop for the team, the brand and for the sport.

So what do the Dodgers, who are perennial National League West contenders playing to full or near-full houses in Chavez Ravine stand to benefit from these road trips to Asia and other places? First, the team sits in one of the most ethnically and racially diverse areas in North America. Its fan base is strong, but like the rest of America, it is changing. Peoples who in past generations came to the United States from Eastern Europe and took to baseball as a way to learn the American way are now coming more and more from Asia and from Latin America, where they can stay more and more in their own communities and continue to play sports that they are already familiar with…sports like soccer and even cricket. Baseball is not part of their culture as much as it once was abroad, so it does not become part of their culture here that quickly as it once did.

Going abroad and growing the Dodger brand gives the team a chance to identify with a new fan base before those new faces come to America. It also can create conversation and a commonality between those who live outside of the States with relatives who are now here, and may give those people now here an incentive to follow baseball, and follow the Dodgers, where there was not as much of an incentive before. And although in this day of instant communication there is probably no longer a way for potential on field talent to hide, the Dodger trips abroad still give their team a chance to see young emerging talent and even help cultivate that talent at a very young age more than if they were back in the States and collecting data and scouting prospects.

It is true that Major League Baseball International does do a great job of bringing together and identifying elite talent and marketing the game outside of North America. However, the immediate presence of a team…in the flesh…is an experience that cannot be copied virtually, on tape, or even through apparel or the appearance of talent evaluators. It is what makes us all love sports. The ability to experience the games and its stars close up and in real time, to see and feel a moment as it happens, without the need of a DVR or a cell phone app. That real experience can help the brand…in this case the Dodger brand,,,grow tenfold. So does a trip to Taiwan bring the Dodgers the World Series this year? Maybe not. But it does help make the team much more a team of the world, and in today’s emerging global economy, winning that type of a brand game may be even more valuable.

However why all these efforts and why now?  The answer is really pretty simple.  We live in very challenging times these days, where perhaps leadership is constantly coming into question with all the challenges we face.  Sports is particularly under fire these days, as the 24/7 news cycle has the media looking for more and more content not just about on-field goings-on, but about all the off-field antics of athletes and coaches that in days gone by were dwarfed in comparison to the coverage that onfield efforts were given.  Lombardi…the story of overcoming success through hard work by a man who had his challenges and made his sacrifices…is a story which appeals to all, not just to football fans or Packers fans or those who like great nostalgic film of the NFL.  It is also a story of leadership for a generation that may know the name but not really the story, which will give the vehicles…theater, TV and the big screen…and opportunity to both re-introduce the story to a new audience and to unite an older generation hearing a fresh telling of the story with a younger group which may be looking more for leadership and direction now than ever before.  It is not a perfect story built on legend…it is a successful story based on adversity.  So are three efforts about the same “person” too much?  Well if one looks at the way each is being told, and all at different times and to varied audiences not really.  Their timing is also staggered, which can probably give each the ability to enhance the other, and the shelf life of a quality theater drama could outlast the two other efforts as well.  In short, the Lombardi story is timeless in a time when we need to be given a chance to be introduced again to a powerful figure who found a way to lead.  Too much Lombardi on the horizon?  Maybe not enough.

What is does is position the company as a leader in the sports promotion business, and projects their brand beyond what their customers and partners normally think of them as…an organization that runs some minor league teams.  It also gives some additional fodder for their business partners and even their fans to be proud to be associated with a company that is looking to innovate not just in their market, but on a larger scale as well.  It is well thought out, well planned, professional looking, relatively inexpensive and can help grow the overall brand of a company that has been known for innovation in minor league baseball, but now may be looking to expand that minor success into a more major payoff.  Good idea, very good content and worthwhile to take a look at.

So we fast forward to now…a time when the NHL has looked at and been successful at, virtually every digital initiative possible to grow its audience.  It has built the Winter Classic as the greatest of regular season sporting events, and has a host of young international stars who can help the sport finally reach a new audience. Sunday night’s terrif rating for US-Canada, and the storybook ending to the game, exposed millions of casual fans to the game, many of whom did not know Sidney Crosby from Sidney Greenstreet or Ryan Miller from Miller Beer before the games began.  Even with the success, the spectre of not shutting down the NHL for two weeks for Sochi 2014 still is out there, so not just the NHL, but hockey as a sport, is again at a crossroads for growth.  Where will it go?  Will it go anywhere or will hockey just get the halo effect of success that Lindsay Vonn or Claudia Mancuso will get, before we move on to something else to capture our spirit and imagination?

Well hockey has perhaps the biggest advantage and is posied for a larger, extended glow than any other winter star can ever have here in North America.  It has a real season that is going on…with fans and television and radio and hours of media coverage already going on.  Theyhave brands that are tied to teams that can help boost the Olympic reminder with local audiences, and smart marketing and sales teams which can package that moment of Olympic success…not just for the Canadians but really for all who participated in the tournament…and re-sell it not just to their die-hards but to an audience which loves the rings and what they have stood for for the last few weeks.  Yes the focus for the NHL clunbs has to now be on the playoffs and the Stanley  Cup, but those selling the game, from the Federations to the minors to the grassroots to the NHL teams, need to take every advantage to extend that brand window and make sure that every possible person in the market get a chance to somehow…in person, digitally, virtually…take part in the after-effect of Vancouver.  The NHL has made a business like no other sport of parading their Stanley Cup to far outposts with their athletes during the offseason, and they should do the same with every piece of the Olympic experience with those who participated. Perhaps there is a feeling that if they glean off the Olympic experience too much they will have to push back on whatever plans are in place for not shutting down for Sochi.  However for a sport that needs a build right now, the short term assistance and ability to expand brand and participation has to be taken advantage of.  Sochi is four years away, teams and the sport need the boost now, or some may never get to 2014.  Thirty years ago a very unique window was opened for hockey.  Some got through before it closed, but it did indeed close and those at the top have struggled to slowly, steadily reopen it and set the sport up for a higher level of exposure and success. The window, for better or worse is again open.  Hopefully this time it will not close for the great game.

Another common ground is philanthropic work.  The Obama Administration recently announced their plan to eradicate childhood obesity.  The Administration also announced a task force to grow and work with Olympic and Youth Sports. Why can’t elite winter and summer athletes, especially when they are not in peak training for their games, be a joint platform for the administration?  Right now as the Vancouver sun sets, the two year cycle for the London games should begin, and a marriage of elite summer and winter athletes to promote the greatness of sport would be very timely, and a way to keep the Olympic branding flame  always burning and keep all the great stories we just witnessed alive and more top of mind than ever before.

The once somewhat questionable child of the Disney theme empire was Wide World of Sports, launched on the outer edges of the expansive Disney World property in Orlando.  At first, some thought the park was targeted to be the sports-themed version of all its fellow parks at Disney World.  A place where you could potentially see games, especially college and potentially the odd professional game, maybe take in some top flight Minor League baseball and also participate in various physical events as part of a family Disney experience.  However what the Disney leaders, especially former NFL and Dartmouth College star, Reggie Williams (who for years was the Pied Piper of the property) realized is that families heading to the House of Mouse didn’t want to sit and watch games, or really do many of the things they could do elsewhere.  They wanted the thrill of the other Disney experiences, with the combo of competing, and that’s where Wide World of Sports found its sweet spot.

Youth sports events from basketball to rugby to gymnastics to cheerleading, started flocking to Disney for an experiential event and large scale competitions in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom.  Instead of playing with their parents, their parents came to cheer them on, all the while getting the service and Disney-quality vacation for the rest of the family.  The Atlanta Braves brought spring training to the baseball stadium, the NBA hosted their Rookie camp, the Orlando Magic and Harlem Globetrotters came in, and for a time the Tampa Bay Bucs called the property their preseason home.  An amazing destination for team sports of all ages was born, and it really started to flourish. But would the economy limit travel teams, and would other destination spots try and mimic the success that Disney had with youth teams? Along came an answer.

It came in the form of ESPN, a network known for quality sports events of all kinds on the collegiate and professional level, but one looking to use its myriad of channels and digital platforms to tie to a younger audience.  The first step was launching its series of ESPN.com local sites, which gave a more in-depth look at professional sports in cities like Boston, L.A. and Chicago, but also allowed for even more coverage of local events and stars.  The results have been solid, and brand expansion continued for “The Worldwide Leader.”

So this week, the two brands in the family took the next step in marrying these two efforts to get the younger, athletic audience together.  The result is ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney, a combination of all the youth and amateur sports you could ever want to see together with all the best in technology and media coverage ESPN can offer.  Now for families that can’t make it to see the young stars of tomorrow in Orlando, highlights will be fed to Bristol or streamed online for family members to watch games back home.  ESPN anchors may drop in to speak to the young track athlete or slugger competing, and interviews will be downloaded from a host of events with athletes and coaches and few out to the world.  The best highlights of the day may even make it on to SportsCenter.  Going even further, the entire combination of feeds will have their own dedicated channel throughout the Disney property and its thousands of hotel rooms, so the young folks can go back and watch a replay of their game around the tube that same night. All this could make for the quintessential athlete experience at Disney, in the same manor that other young people might feel a Princess breakfast or a meeting with Mickey may make their trip to Orlando complete.

Now is all this extra coverage and uploading of highlights overkill, and putting more pressure on young people to perform for the cameras like their professional heroes?  Maybe. Would it cause some young Ocho Cinco-wannabe to go a little further with taunting in hopes that he makes “SportsCenter”? Possibly. However, the upside is giving all these young athletes a “once in a lifetime” experience when many times those who travel to play in events do so at a great sacrifice to experience other little events, like maybe going to Disney on a vacation because they are playing sports with their team.

Even with some critics, one thing is for certain. Starting this weekend in Orlando, Disney, with a lift from their family members at ESPN, has transformed what was once a difficult project into a success in a fairytale makeover that anyone associated with the Magic Kingdom can appreciate.

The latest example was in a Monday USA Today cover story on incoming University of Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon, an alumnus and head of Domino’s Pizza. The move to go outside the tradition athletic director profile…a former or current coach or career college administrator…is the ;latest sign that schools are looking to find people with a wide business background that can acclimate to sports, not a sports background that maybe can meld into a business, when looking for leadership.  Today’s challenged economy has given schools a much wider swath of candidates…senior business leaders who are tired of the climate today and are looking for a lifestyle change…who would like to come in and show colleges and universities what it takes to run an athletic program with innovation and business skills…as well as the skill of consensus building that has to come when juggling programs ranging from football to water polo on a limited budget.  These business leaders know how to stretch dollars in conventional ways and apply basic business practices on top of the traditional fundraising that schools do.  They are better equipped to find ways to make Universities understand the value of athletics as business, and in doing so can tap into much wider resources outside of the emotional bonds that many schools rely on for resources. Now this new outlook doesn’t just apply to the big schools.  Small schools in many markets are also now looking to business leaders to show them how to better market, use social media, develop new streams of income and better run their bottom line while growing their brands in the market they are located.  The same is true for mid-major and smaller conferences…their leadership is also evolving into a combination of business and athletics, with the emphasis on business.  Does this mean the end for the career athletic administrator?  By no means.  Those people are learning how to adapt and grow their backgrounds as well, but it does mean that they do have to grow in their positions in order to make athletics as business and brand run smoother and more efficiently.  It is ironic that institutes of higher learning, those developing the leaders of tomorrow, have been slower to adapt to the business of sports themselves than other segments of the sports business world.  Colleges can learn a great deal from marketing, branding and selling from their local minor league teams, and in some cases have even developed a symbiotic relationship to grow together.

However those days of the folksy administrator who takes on an Athletic director’s title as a retirement job are gone.  The Universities may have been a bit slow to come around, but the wakeup call has gone off, and the opportunities that exist to grow both personally and as a brand for schools are really just getting started.  No more bow ties and secret handshakes to get the President’s attention.

Now the fun begins.  In the next few days, there will be the circus of getting reaction from the women involved, psychologists, “brand experts,” Women’s organizations, politicians, equipment sellers, caddies, jockeys, zookeepers, whoever the media can find.  But not Tiger.  As George Willis pointed out in Saturday’s New York Post, the one question that remains to be answered…that the sports fan and those who spend money on golf need to know…is when Woods will be back.  Until he is back playing, the sport, and all those who work in the sport, will continue to suffer in these still challenging times. While the NBA ratings rise, Olympic viewers watch, the NFL sets records, NASCAR looks for new audiences and baseball gets going, golf is falling in as an afterthought in the eyes of the American sporting fan, and for that matter, the TV and branding world.  With that, less people play, buy equipment, watch, spend money on food at events etc etc.  That means less discretionary income going to those who work in the sport, and that is not good for the business of sports, let alone golf. Is it fair to have all this on the back of one superstar?  Maybe not, but that is the nature of sport. We love and follow our heros, and we love when they come back.  When they don’t play, their stories are only just so interesting, and eventually we move on to something else.

For the last few years, golf has looked to try and figure out what is next when Tiger leaves, just like hoops looked to see what is next without Michael Jordan.  it took time, but the NBA found their marketing and branding place and has come back. Can golf?  We shall see.  One thing is for sure, Woods did what he felt he needed to do yesterday to start the process and diffuse some of the issues, and gave people just enough to get the comeback going.  Did he answer all or any of the questions he needed to?  Thats up for debate.  However the biggest question for those who make a living in the sport remains unanswered.  And until that question is answered…when does the comeback on the course begin?  The issues for golf as a business are even begin that just one golfer, even the biggest star.

Perhaps the most perplexing issue that arose was the Luge Federation’s rush to speak and how they chose to assign “blame” in a tragedy which really has multiple layers of 20/20 hindsight, none of which will change the outcome.  While it is true that the Federation spoke with a clear voice, that of head Svein Romstad,  the choice of timing and the assignment of blame was all so curious.  Less than 24 hours after the tragedy, the Federation assigned blame to the athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili as opposed to any other factors that could have been involved. What was the reason for the rush to judge or for the need to put such a tragedy on the victim at this time? Understandably, there was a need for statement…remorse, investigation, responsibility, leadership. There was also the essence of time, as for better or worse, the luge competition was leading the Olympic events the very next day. But instead of showing the requisite time for reviewing every possible factor over an extended period, blame was assessed to the driver. In larger scale tragedies, from racing in sports to transportation crashes, there is almost always a long period of review and inquiry, to make sure that every possible constituent is included in the process.  There is also a human deference to the bereaved, which will give them time to grieve and take the proper time to make sure all personal and professional affairs are in order for those involved. So the statement really went against a number of basic rules of crisis management.

-Take the time to gather all the facts

–Make sure that the amount of information gathered and the communication up and down the chain of command is effective and well thought through.

–Show respect for those effected personally and professionally.

–Only answer the questions that need to be answered at that particular time.

Now the ability to speak quickly and make the position known was done correctly.  Whether that position is correct is a matter of debate. Could the position been that “we have made adjustments to the track and have consulted all involved and will move on with the competition” been enough? Was there a liability factor that would have opened up more issues if blame was not placed on the driver that could have endangered holding the competition itself? That is unknown at this time.

The quick statement also temporarily shortened the news cycle and put the focus back on the event itself, but a strong conclusion of blame then extended the news cycle again, creating even more controversy for the Federation.  IOC President Jacques Rogge and the Georgian officials actually handled the tragedy with great humanity, something that the Federation did not do in the eyes of the media.  The reaction of all athletes and coaches as to the statement will also probably have a longer lasting effect well beyond the Games themselves. Will there continue to be speculation about the track itself and if this was an avoidable tragedy?  Of course. Will that change the course of events that led to the tragedy? No. Will the tragedy temporarily lead to more interest in luge from the casual sports fan, like what happened following the death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona?  Probably.  Even with all those factors and all the emotions involved, the rush for final judgment as to right and wrong put the Luge Federation in a very difficult spot with three of its biggest audiences…the athletes, the media and the fans and followers of the Games.

If there is anything that could have been avoided easily, it was the Federation’s lack of judgment in handling and addressing a very sad and difficult situation. Those issues may be just as hard to overcome in the future as the physical changes and precautions that will probably be brought to the sport in the future.